Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q
by Patrick Simpson
on
Jul 3, 2009 at 3:01:58 am
I bought a 500 GB G-Drive Q in November for the Pro Tools rig I was assembling. I bought a G-tech because it was recommended to me as being a high quality drive for media work.
In January this year, it began having problems; it wouldn't mount most of the time. G-Tech had me send it back and they fixed or replaced it.
This happened a second time this spring; it stopped mounting on my iMac (or iBook or Mac mini). I sent it back to G-Tech to be fixed a couple days ago.
Am I stuck with a "high quality" drive that I can't rely on? Is Pro Tools causing this somehow?
When I originally bought the drive, I tried to return the drive to Macmall (mistake buying from them) to get the 1 TB version instead, but their return policy is very stringent so I couldn't. That said, I wonder if G-Tech would consider upgrading me to a 1 TB drive for my trouble, or giving my money back so I can buy a different hard drive.
If someone from G-Tech wants to look into this, my Case # is CS354096 and my RMA # is R193643.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gene Gilbert on Jul 10, 2009 at 6:25:44 pm
Hi Patrick,
Sorry I haven't responded sooner. I looked at your case notes, and am familiar with your case, so when you send it in, put it to my attention and I'll fix it for you. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gene Gilbert on Jul 14, 2009 at 10:05:54 pm
Patrick,
What's the RMA number, I'll go find it and get it repaired for you. Unfortunately, we can't do capacity upgrades, you will need to talk to your dealer.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gene Gilbert on Jul 15, 2009 at 12:02:03 am
Hi Patrick,
Got the drive on my bench, running preliminary tests. It is possible that Pro Tools crashing can mess up your directory, we use DiskWarrior to take care of this. I should have your drive repaired and back to you ASAP.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Patrick Simpson on Jul 15, 2009 at 3:48:37 am
Thanks for your attention; it means a lot.
Is there some way to avoid messing up the drive's directory when PT crashes? After paying $200 for the hard drive I'd hate to have to add another $100 for diskwarrior just to be able to reliably operate the drive. The G-Drive Q is specifically billed as being a good choice for use with Pro Tools (http://www.g-technology.com/products/g-driveq.cfm).
After buying the drive, sending it to be fixed twice ($20 shipping apiece), and buying DiskWarrior; I'm looking at spending $340 on a 500 GB drive.
Granted, this could be more of a PT issue than a G-Drive issue, but still pretty annoying.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gene Gilbert on Jul 15, 2009 at 6:38:10 pm
You're welcome Patrick. In my own system, once it is working and stable, I don't mess with it, i.e. I don't update programs/system/plugins/etc unless I really need to. DiskWarrior is a tool I utilize to keep my system and drives running well, and the $100 investment has been well worth it over the years, it has resurrected more than one crashed drive. Granted, it doesn't fix things all the time, but I feel it gives me an advantage, so to my perspective, it is like maintenance on my car, and a cost of doing business, and you can use it on all your drives, not just G-Tech.
If you have further problems, contact me and I'll do my best to make things as painless as possible.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gianpietro Miglia on Jul 16, 2009 at 5:45:14 am
Hi Gene,
I am experiencing the same problem of sporadic mounting as Patrick, besides other issues.
I have a 1T G-Drive that I bought in mid-April of this year, as it was highly recommended at the Mac store. I use it as a straight drag and drop HD from my iMac. I have already sent it to G-tech for repairs over a month ago (RMA# R191906) because besides the mounting problem, it kept freezing up when I was transferring files to it.
I have not yet transferred any files to the G-Drive because once I got it back and connected it, it not only sporadically mounted on restart, it also at times kept the iMac from properly shutting down and restarting. To make matters worse it was also freezing-up when I changed between users. When nothing happened after 3-4 minutes I pressed both escape and command/escape with no success. My only option was to shut down the computer by pressing the button on the left rear of the computer.
This is how the log out has often happened:
- I logged out of one user...all icons disappeared and only the desktop picture remained, nothing else...
- waited 3 min
- shut down the computer manually (left rear button)
- waited 2 min
restarted the computer... soon after the bong came on… followed by a gray screen,
apple/gear… these images quickly disappeared and, the screen turned a light blue
color.
- I waited 3-4 min with no response.
- I then turned off the computer via the left rear button, turned off and disconnected the G-Drive… the computer properly restarted w/o any glitches.
Once I properly disconnected the G-Drive and connected other ext. HD’s, I could change users and/or put the computer to sleep/re-start it, as well as shut it down and restart it, and every single time it performed with no incidents, not to mention moving files to and from.
It has already cost me time and $$ having sent this unit once for repairs. Could you please look into this and help me fix the issue. All I want is something that works.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gene Gilbert on Jul 16, 2009 at 9:54:25 pm
Hi Gianpietro,
I have looked at your case, and I'm having a call tag issued to get the drive back in here, and we'll get you working again. Let me know if you have any further questions.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gene Gilbert on Jul 22, 2009 at 10:45:08 pm
We had a call tag issued on 7/16, you should have received it in your email. You print it out and attach it to your package. If you haven't, contact me at ggilbert@fabrik.com
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gianpietro Miglia on Aug 2, 2009 at 4:54:20 pm
Hi Cameron,
First of all, is this the only drive that has all the photos/other media? If not you may be playing Russian roulette.
I can only tell you what has worked for me with the 1 TB G-Drive hooked up to my iMac. I cannot confirm this is what tech support will tell you.
This is what I did: 1) Shut down the computer, 2) Unplugged the electrical cord from the computer, 3) Turned off the G-Drive and unplug it. 3) Disconnected the firewire. Waited 20 minutes, sometimes this worked after 5 min other times I gave it 12 hrs.
Once the waiting time was over I, 1) Connected power to the computer and started it up, 2) Connected power to the G-Drive, 3) Connected the firewire between the computer and the G-Drive, 3) By now your screen should be up and ready, so turn on the G-Drive switch and you should be able to see the G-Drive icon pop up soon after.
This method did not work every time. There were times when I had to repeat this procedure.
If my system works for you and this is your only Drive with your precious data, I suggest an immediate back up to another HD before sending it for repairs. It may take up to a month or more before you get it back.
I hope Gene contacts you, because IMO he is the man when it comes to expediting repairs. I just wish the HD's G-Tech builds would come up to the quality and standard of service to match Gene’s care and professionalism.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gene Gilbert on Aug 4, 2009 at 4:10:20 pm
Hi Cameron,
I'm sorry to hear you are having problems with your G-DRIVE Q. Do you have DiskWarrior? If so, your directory is probably corrupt, and sometimes DiskWarrior can repair it and the drive mounts again. You probably will need to send it in for repair, you can go to our website here: http://www.g-technology.com/Support/Support.cfm?Loc=Contact. Check the European support and they will take care of you. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by jamal allen on Sep 5, 2009 at 12:19:36 am
Qoute
Hi Gene,
I am experiencing the same problem of sporadic mounting as Patrick, besides other issues.
I have a 1T G-Drive that I bought in mid-April of this year, as it was highly recommended at the Mac store. I use it as a straight drag and drop HD from my iMac. I have already sent it to G-tech for repairs over a month ago (RMA# R191906) because besides the mounting problem, it kept freezing up when I was transferring files to it.
I have not yet transferred any files to the G-Drive because once I got it back and connected it, it not only sporadically mounted on restart, it also at times kept the iMac from properly shutting down and restarting. To make matters worse it was also freezing-up when I changed between users. When nothing happened after 3-4 minutes I pressed both escape and command/escape with no success. My only option was to shut down the computer by pressing the button on the left rear of the computer.
This is how the log out has often happened:
- I logged out of one user...all icons disappeared and only the desktop picture remained, nothing else...
- waited 3 min
- shut down the computer manually (left rear button)
- waited 2 min
restarted the computer... soon after the bong came on… followed by a gray screen,
apple/gear… these images quickly disappeared and, the screen turned a light blue
color.
- I waited 3-4 min with no response.
- I then turned off the computer via the left rear button, turned off and disconnected the G-Drive… the computer properly restarted w/o any glitches.
Once I properly disconnected the G-Drive and connected other ext. HD’s, I could change users and/or put the computer to sleep/re-start it, as well as shut it down and restart it, and every single time it performed with no incidents, not to mention moving files to and from.
It has already cost me time and $$ having sent this unit once for repairs. Could you please look into this and help me fix the issue. All I want is something that works.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gene Gilbert on Sep 7, 2009 at 5:03:32 am
Hi Jamal,
I'm sorry to hear that you are still having issues. Email me directly at eugene.gilbert@hitachigst.com and we'll go over your case on Tuesday and get the drive back in for repair.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gina Willis on Jul 16, 2009 at 3:38:08 pm
Hey guys,
Gina here. Just got a Q about 3 weeks ago. A week ago it started having problems. Won't mount or, when it does and I'm able to finally open up Final Cut, in the middle of my edit i get the spinning ball of DEATH!!.
I thought I was going to need to reload final cut (yuck!) but having read through this thread, I'm thinking I might need to send it back in to the techs.
does anyone have an opinion on what is going on.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gene Gilbert on Jul 16, 2009 at 10:00:56 pm
Hi Gina,
Sorry to hear about your problems, I know they can be frustrating. You'll need to send the drive in for repair, go to our website and fill out the RMA form. You can go here: http://g-technology.com/Support/Support.cfm?Loc=Contact. Mention this thread in the RMA, and you can put it to my attention, and we'll get it in here and get you taken care of.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Gina Willis on Jul 16, 2009 at 3:38:30 pm
Hey guys,
Gina here. Just got a Q about 3 weeks ago. A week ago it started having problems. Won't mount or, when it does and I'm able to finally open up Final Cut, in the middle of my edit i get the spinning ball of DEATH!!.
I thought I was going to need to reload final cut (yuck!) but having read through this thread, I'm thinking I might need to send it back in to the techs.
does anyone have an opinion on what is going on.
Re: Recurring problem with new G-Drive Q by Patrick Simpson on Sep 18, 2009 at 1:36:05 am
After 2 months, I'm beginning to have the same problems again.
I received my repaired hard drive back from G-Tech on July 21, 2009 (Case # CS354096); that was the second time having this hard drive repaired (the first Case # from Feb. was CS313670).
I've been using the drive mostly with Final Cut since then, I've kept Pro Tools sessions elsewhere. Today I turned on the G Drive to work on a project and it started showing the symptoms - it works for a while, then it hangs and causes most of the computer to freeze (particularly the programs accessing the hard drive). In fact as I write this, finder is hanging and I'll probably have to do a hard shut down when I'm done typing this (it's been hanging for an hour or more). Before the hard drive started hanging, I opened Disk Utility and clicked "repair disk" and it said it didn't need any repairing. Is this a problem that Disk Warrior would fix?
